Pharmacies often fill prescriptions for patients who are not present to immediately receive them. For example, a prescription order may be called or faxed to a pharmacy by doctors so the pharmacy can fill it and have it ready to dispense to the patient or caregiver upon arrival. A pharmacy may also have standing prescription orders on file, requiring ongoing refills of prescriptions as needed over a period of time. Patients may order refills by calling the pharmacy, by accessing the pharmacy's automated interactive voice response (IVR) telephone system, by accessing the pharmacy's website, or by using any number of mobile device applications. Refills may also be triggered automatically by the pharmacy computer system.
Storage systems are often used to store prescriptions until patients arrive. Such systems may be referred to as pharmacy “will call” systems. A common will call system is simply an array of shelves behind the pharmacy counter where prescriptions are placed so pharmacy staff can access them when patients arrive. Busy pharmacies typically have a large number of prescription items in will call. A retail pharmacy that fills 2,000 individual prescriptions per week will typically have approximately 30% of this volume (i.e. 600 prescription items) in will call at any time. Unfortunately, when there are a large number of prescriptions in will call, time is spent searching for the prescriptions needed to dispense to a patient, thus wasting staff time and increasing patient wait time.
Furthermore, many will call storage areas are accessible by anyone behind the pharmacy counter, thus introducing the potential for errors and intentional drug diversion (i.e., theft). For example, prescriptions are sometimes given to the wrong patient due to human error of misreading a label or otherwise selecting the wrong prescription. There is also a greater risk of theft by pharmacy staff or others if the will call storage is not secure.
Thus, there is a need for an improved method of prescription storage and retrieval that mitigates risks of human error, theft, or tampering and decreases retrieval time.